Thousands of regional experts are expected to conduct business at this year’s edition of Materials Handling Middle East Exhibition scheduled to take place from May 31 to June 2, 2009, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center.

Steady growth in passenger and cargo traffic in 2008, and the successful opening of Terminal 3 in Dubai has boosted the materials handling and logistics industry.

“It is encouraging to note that despite the worldwide economic downturn, Dubai International Airport registered a year-on-year increase of nine per cent in passenger traffic and 9.38 per cent in freight. The airport handled a total of 37,441,440 passengers and 1,824,991 tons of cargo in 2008, as against 34,348,110 passengers and 1,668,505 tons of freight in 2007,” said Ms. Elisabeth Brehl, Managing Director of Epoc Messe Frankfurt GmbH, organizers of Materials Handling Middle East.

Materials Handling Middle East, now on its fifth year, will have over 250 exhibitors from 35 countries participating. The exhibitors will be from the Logistics, Supply Chain, Freight/Cargo, Automation, and Information & Communication Technology fields.

Mahmut Gazi Bilikozen, Senior Show Manager of Materials Handling Middle East said, “Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade with the rest of the world grew 38 per cent in 2008 to AED 934.7 billion, compared to AED 678.5 billion in 2007 according to figures released by Dubai World’s Statistics Department. The growth in trade was AED 256.2 billion.”

“This growth is promising for the materials handling business,” Mr. Bilikozen noted “as the material handling equipment, an integral part of any plant, warehouse or distribution system, is dependent on the general state of a nation's economy; and the UAE as a regional hub is set to play a significant role in production and consumption of machinery.”